


Gyfu

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Fireside Tales [141]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, GFY, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-20
Updated: 2014-05-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 20:17:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1661177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's almost hard to believe they had been smaller than that until Nedrui sets a tiny kitten, the size of some of the granary cats that keep the mice away, into his hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gyfu

**Author's Note:**

> Elboron, meeting Maidh's first litter of kittens  
> Prompt: Kitten  
> Alternate Universe: combined AU (Flame of Durin and Gaearon Rhûnen)

Elboron crouches to creep into the darkened room built next to the stables, following after Nedrui. It's been three days since Maidh had vanished inside, heavy with her kittens, and only today is it safe to see if she's had them. He remembers Maidh when his mother first brought her home, with her mother and sister and brother, how she'd been half the size of her mother. Larger than Megor or Gaer, but even they weren't very small.

It's almost hard to believe they had been smaller than that until Nedrui sets a tiny kitten, the size of some of the granary cats that keep the mice away, into his hands. Elboron plops down onto the straw with a small huff, his hands curling protectively around the tiny kitten.

"She's the smallest." Nedrui is further in, and Elboron looks toward him, though he can't really see his friend in the dimness, not yet. "There are four others. It's a large litter."

"How do you know she's a girl?" Elboron strokes his fingers down the back of the kitten gingerly, trying to think of a good name for her.

"The same way you tell anything else is a girl or a boy." There's a shifting of straw, then Nedrui takes one of Elboron's hands to guide his fingers under the kitten's tail. "Nothing there, she's a girl. There's a lump there where the balls will drop if a kitten is a boy."

"Oh." Elboron can feel his face heating, and is glad now for the darkness of Maidh's room. At least Nedrui can't see his embarrassment at not knowing such a simple thing. He stays quiet, stroking the kitten as he thinks more on a name for her. "The rest of them?"

"Another girl, three boys." Nedrui sits beside him, leaning a little against Elboron. "We wouldn't name them until they came out of the nesting rooms in the east. In case one of them didn't survive. Usually the smallest one wouldn't."

Elboron is almost tempted to cling to the little kitten sleeping in his lap. "Is there anything we can do to keep her alive if she wouldn't live on her own?"

Nedrui is quiet for a long moment. "No one ever worried about it. There are always more kittens." There's a guarded note in his voice, that Elboron has heard before, and hates every time. Like there's some hurt that he's never talked about, and doesn't like to think about. "They drink milk, like all other babies. Maybe if we could give her other milk it would help, if she isn't getting enough from Maidh."

Like feeding a colt that's not doing well, as he'd seen when he'd had a chance to visit his uncle three summers ago. Elboron takes a deep breath, a small smile crossing his face before he carefully lifts the little kitten out of his lap, returning her to Maidh. "Gyfu. Her name is Gyfu."

**Author's Note:**

> Gyfu means "gift" in Anglo-Saxon, which is where I've drawn any names for Rohirric OCs. Nedrui is from Gaearon Rhûnen, and arrived with Alagosiell and Boromir when they brought the first embassy - and the first hunting cats - to Gondor. The cats themselves look like cheetahs for the most part, though a bit larger and broader (like more ancient and now extinct species of cheetah), with markings similar to a King Cheetah (which is a color variant on the regular cheetah, where the spots on the back run together to make stripes).


End file.
